Monday, December 27, 2010

For Ghalib's Birthday

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Rape …

This morning we had a piece by Saba Imtiaz in The Express Tribune and we are told that Laalchand has been arrested. The public anger is, however, directed at Sharmila Farooqui: She named the victim, discussed things about her, talked of her being at a party and coming late, almost offering "the girl is responsible" by calling her 'rude' and other names. This was an amazingly stupid and disgusting method of harassing the girl and making it all the more difficult for women to report such incidences.

The media followed the crime and reported in it with the same amazement and amusement that they use for such cases, implying things and saying everything other than "the girl was guilty".

Away from all of this, I went to see a 'comedy' show at T2F. The artist was Ayesha Rokadia. Well, she was the artist but was to have friends joining her. The fact that everything starts on time at T2F (and she was told this) ... made no difference as she appeared ("because of traffic") around 25 minutes late. Actually 55 minutes, if we were to take the fact that she said she'd be there at 6.30 when I last saw her.

She's a regular writer for comedy shows in the USA — but as a comedian she was not great at all. Of course that happens at times to the best of comedians, so one can forgive it. The problem was that she decided to open the show with a 'rape joke' (and said, after the show, that she had many more jokes on rape that she would do 'the next time'). Why? Why would a girl want to do a 'rape joke'? Everyone who had any sense of humour and intelligence was upset.

After a whole day of talking about the Clifton rape — and screaming their heads off at the Media and Sharmila — Tweeples wrote about the show in disgust.

Ayesha's friends were Sami Shah, Ishma Alvi, Haroon Saad, and OBA. It could have gotten much worse without them. Fortunately the friends did bring some humour into the show. Specially Sami Shah and OBA. But Ishma and Haroon, good in telling their stories, stayed slightly away from getting a good punchline.

Christmas is round the corner …

– and you are bound to enjoy the wonderful Dylan Thomas reading out his "A Child's Christmas in Wales" piece ... one of my favourites from this wonderful poet, prose & play writer and a delightful conversationalist.

Available in Caedmon's lovely box commemorating his 50th death anniversary, the CD-Set has amazing poetry by him (yes … all the ones you missed are there, too!) and includes his readings of some other great poets. The set also has lots of his prose, pieces of plays, and his hilarious-heady conversations. There are lovely introductions by Billy Collins, plus comments by Edith Sitwell and others.

Yeh jo takta haé aasmaan ko tü / Koee rahtaa haé aasmaan meñ kyaa?

His style of Urdu poetry writing had a unique quality … and, despite being a brilliant Urdu poet, he was also a scholar in Arabic, English, Persian, Sanskrit, and Hebrew! Plus, he was an amazing philosopher.

John is remembered for being 'an unabashed open anarchist and nihilist in a conservative and religious society.'

It is his birthday tomorrow, December 14th, and I thought I'd share some of his poetry and prose with you.

To begin with, there's this marvellous qat'aa followed by this gorgeous ghazal. His views on everything were wonderful and were always fun to listen to … so have fun with this conversation.

No, no. This isn't my favourite poem at all. For me, this brings back the thought of Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). An independent church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality, which includes picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag, the church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the Anti-Defamation League and others.

Headed by Fred Phelps - and consisting mostly of members of his large family - it has about 100 members. The group claims that it is in love with Jesus Christ and has placed anti-Gay ads on buses, sign-posts, and ads. In order to further its stance it goes to schools, churches, funerals, and more - shouting obscenities and hateful slogans against the people.

The group bases its work around the belief expressed by its best known slogan and the address of its primary Web site, "God Hates Fags", asserting that every tragedy in the world is linked to homosexuality — specifically society's increasing tolerance and acceptance of the so-called homosexual agenda.

The group maintains that God hates gays above all other kinds of "sinners" and that homosexuality should be a capital crime.

Students kissing in front of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church

The WBC maintains a God Hates India website (now part of the site called www.godhatesthe world.com) where they state that "80% of India's population claim to practice Hinduism. A country full of idolatry inevitably results in a nation full of fags and fag-enablers, because that's what happens when you depart from the 'Living God'!

The group came into the national spotlight in 1998, when they were featured on CNN for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young man beaten to death by two men because of his homosexuality.

WBC members, led by Fred Phelps, picketed the funeral (as well as the trial of Matthew's assailants), displaying signs with slogans such as "Matt Shepard rots in Hell" and "AIDS Kills Fags Dead”. (A docu-drama movie on the Matthew case will be shown at T2F soon.)

The Westboro Baptist Church has protested at the funerals of people ranging from Fred Rogers and Coretta Scott King to Jerry Falwell.

On hearing that copies of Qur'an were flushed down the toilet in Guantanamo, Phelps said, "So what if our guys flushed copies of the Qur'an down the toilet? We hope they did." ... and, this year they threatened to burn copies of the Qur'an and even got volunteers. They were stopped from following their act by calls from the USA government and others — for all the wrong reasons: Afghan, Iraq, Pakistan, and other places - and the problems the USA troops could face!

On March 10, 2006, WBC picketed the funeral of MLC Matthew Snyder. Matthew's father said, "They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family. They wanted their message heard and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside."

Recently they have announced the picketing of Elizabeth Edward's funeral and put up this ad in many places.

•••

I look at all this and still know that the USA isn't doomed at all. This is just a loony collection of nutcases in a remarkable country that has lovely laws and wonderfully amazing people.

debunkatron, so be it. I'll even help out by so identifying myself up front."

Words on their website state, 'each weekly episode focuses on a single phenomenon that you've heard of … and that you probably believe in'. There are topics from Aliens & UFOs, Religion, Urban Legends, Logic & Persuasion, Health, and a lot more.

Always a treat to listen to, I subscribe to it on iTunes but you can have your own way of getting it by going here.

To start you off, here's an example that a lot of you may be interested in:

words of wisdom

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have scrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that the saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought and, though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.Bertrand Russell

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.Noam Chomsky

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.Albert Einstein

Each century seems to take on a particular character as we view it in retrospect. How will the 20th Century be remembered? My guess is that this dramatic span of 100 years will ultimately be marked not by computers or the Internet, but by the drive toward individual freedom, the breaking of human barriers of prejudice, and the opening of society to include all people.John S. Spong

DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.Max Ehrmann